My poker pal, fellow cigar enthusiast, and national book award winner, Pete Hautman, invited me to contribute to a Young Adult anthology of poker stories. The result is “Full House.” My offering is a story titled, “Fiddy Dolla Smile.” It’s set at a regular poker game hosted by hot-shot high school athlete Tyler Brandon, a jock with a strong sense of entitlement. He also happens to deal in narcotic-laced cough syrup.

Turns out that Tyler has gotten away with one too many things and that’s pushed Corey, the hero of the story, into action. Corey’s got a plan to teach Tyler a lesson he’ll never forget but he can’t do it alone so he enlists his pal Adam to help. It comes down to the last hand of the night as Corey and Adam take full advantage of Tyler’s ego and his abiding fear of looking weak in front of his posse.